Method of making compound wire



I (NO Model.)

H. A. WILLIAMS. METHOD OF MAKING COMPOUND WIRE.

NO. 550,706. Patented Dec. 3, 1895.

wiin asses lJNiTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY ALEXIS \VILLIAMS, OF TAUNTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD OF MAKING COMPOUND WIRE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 550,705, dated December 3, 1895. Application filed November 28, 1890. Renewed April 12, 1893. Serial No. 470,113. Sp cimens.)

T0 (6 whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY ALEXIs WIL- LIAMS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Taunton, in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Making Compound lVire, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in making composite telegraph or other electric wire, whereof the core is composed of steel or other metal best adapted for tensile strength, and the 6Xb6- rior portion consists of such metal as is best adapted for conducting purposes, which, not having the requisite tensile strength, is thus reinforced by the steel by inserting a steel wire of somewhat larger size than the said core is to be when finished in a tube of the conducting metal, as copper, and reducing both together by cold rolling to the size wanted and for suitably compressing the two parts together.

For example, to produce a composite wire of, say, No. S wire-gage with a No. 16 core I take a core-wire of about No. 12 and a seamless tube large enough to receive the wire and insert the wire and fasten them together at the front end, so that they will run together in the rolls, and then reduce them by gradual reduction in a continuous train of coldrolling rolls, in which the tube and the core are both drawn together and combined in the composite wire of the desired size.

As the lengths of the tubes are much shorter than the lengths of wire, I add as many lengths of tubes as required by stringing them on the wire and welding the ends together over or around the wire by the electric method of welding, using in this case insulated corewire or otherwise neutralizing it to avoid interference with the welding, all as herein after fully described, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is partly a longitudinal section and partly a side view of a short piece of composite wire such as I propose to make. Figs. 2 and 3 are longitudinal sections of parts of a tube and side views of parts of a corewire, showing the preparatory condition or size of the tube and a reduced condition of the tube at a later and intermediate stage of the process. Figs. 4 and 5 represent in detached parts a side elevation in outline of apparatus for carrying out the method of my invention.

a represents the core-wire, of steel or other high grade tensile material, and b the copper tube for the outer part, said tube and core being much larger to begin with than when complete, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, said tube forming a close envelope firmly compressed on the core and considerably reduced at the finish and the core being considerably reduced by the compression of said envelope, as represented in Fig. 1.

0 represents the series of grooved rolls of the reducing-train, through which the said core wire and tube pass to be drawn and condensed, (l carrying rollers over which the tube runs to the reducing-rolls.

The reducing-train may consist of any approved continuous train of rolls adapted for the purpose; but the most practical arrangement is one in which it is feasible to locate the successive pairs of rolls in close proximity, so that a sufficient number of pairs of rolls for effecting the entire reduction in suitable graduation for practicable cold rolling may be arranged in a train of practicable limits.

NVhen it is desired to make up the required length of the tube by welding shorter pieces together, the pieces, being strung on the wire, as represented in Fig. 5, with the ends to be welded placed slightly apart, as represented at a, will be connected in the electric circuit Z), to be heated at the said nearly-closed ends by the electric current and then when sufficiently heated be brought together and welded as such method of welding is usually practiced. The cross-lines at d may be considered as denoting points where two pieces have been welded together in like manner. The core-wire may be insulated throughout its length to facilitate this operation, or any other means by which it may be neutralized or rendered non-conductive may be employed.

6 represents a reel for receiving the finished wire from the rolls.

I claim The method of making composite telegraph or other electric wire comprising a core of metal having high tensile strength, and the other part being a conductor of high quality,

by stringing on the core Wire two or more shorter tubes than said Wire, Welding said tubes together at the ends, and reducing both the tube and the core down by gradual reduction in a. cold rolling process and compressing the tube on and uniting it with the core substantially as described.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 25th day of September, A. D. 1890.

HENRY ALEXIS \YILLIAMS.

\Vitnesses WV. J. MORGAN, W. B. EARLL. 

